Theatre, Herculaneum, July 2009. The eighteenth-century
access shaft to the theatre.

Photo courtesy of Sera Baker.

Theatre, Herculaneum, July 2009. The eighteenth-century
access shaft to the theatre.

Photo courtesy of Sera Baker.

“From the lower vestibule a flight of 72 steps cut
into the tufa bank leads down to the upper part of the theatre (summa cavea), recognizable from the double flights of steps
that descend to the great circular ambulacrum between the summa
and the media cavea; the latter is traversable
from one extremity to the other, where there are stairs leading down to the
level of the orchestra”…….

“Today, the well of Prince d’Elboeuf and
Alcubierre’s tunnels, crisscrossing the Theatre, remain much as they were when
the explorations were finally abandoned. From them the present visitor derives
the most vivid impressions of the conditions under which the Neapolitan cavamonti worked so deep underground. Mists and vapours
slither like ghosts through the corridors; water and slime drip from the
ceilings and walls; the air is dank, bone-chilling.

Even with electric lights the tunnels disappear
abruptly into the mysterious sepulchral darkness of twenty centuries.”

Deiss, in his Author’s Note, makes a point of
thanking the custodians, who were unfailingly polite and helpful – even on the
hottest days, after closing hours, and especially on the harrowing occasion
when all the lights shorted out in the damp Theatre tunnels ninety feet below
the surface.”.

See
Deiss, J.J. (1968. Herculaneum: a city
returns to the sun. London, The history Book Club, (p. x, p.137).

“The orchestra now lies 26.60 metres below the
level of the modern Corso Ercolano.

Before us is the front of the proscenium
of the usual type, with round and square niches deprived of their decoration
and minor sculptures.

At the two extremities of the proscenium,
near the pilasters of the main entrances to the orchestra (parodoi), there
remain the bases of two honorary statues (the statues either were never found
or were removed during the first disordered plundering of d’Elboeuf)”.

See
Maiuri, A, (1977). Herculaneum,(p.73).

(Definition of the proscenium,
theproscenium was the stage area
immediately in front of the scene building.

It also could be the row of columns at the front of
the scene building, at first directly behind the circular orchestra, but later
upon a stage.)

“One
base with the above inscription testifies the public gratitude of the city to
that Marcus Nonius Balbus, and of whom we
possess the equestrian statue found together with others of the same family in
another public edifice, the so-called Basilica.”

See
Maiuri, A, (1977). Herculaneum, (p.74).

According
to Cooley and Cooley, this translates as

To
Marcus Nonius Balbus, son of Marcus, praetor, proconsul, the people of
Herculaneum.

“The
other statue base with inscription, above, is dedicated to Appius Claudius
Pulcher, who was consul in the year 38 B.C.”.

See
Maiuri, A, (1977). Herculaneum, (p.74).

Corti
wrote – “Finally, there was an enormous marble slab, about five feet high and
fifteen feet long. This was laboriously moved until it could be wound up the
well on a windlass, and when it was cleaned it was found to have great letters,
almost a foot tall, let into it in metal. It was an inscription in Roman
capitals, bearing the name of Appius Pulcher, son of Caius, who lived about
38BC., in the year when Caius Norbanus Flaccus was
Roman consul. Pulcher was in correspondence with Cicero and succeeded him as
governor of Sicily”.

Herculaneum
Theatre. Visiting the remains of the Herculaneum Theatre, painting by G.
Gigante.

Wikipedia
describes

“In
ancient Rome, the stage area in front of the scaenae
frons (equivalent to the Greek skene) was known as the pulpitum, and the vertical front dropping from the stage to
the orchestra floor, often in stone and decorated, as the proscenium,
again meaning “in front of the skene”.

“Upon ascending one of the little side-stairs which
connect the orchestra with the pulpitum, there
are still to be glimpsed the skeletal remains of the mural structure of what
was once the magnificent architectonic façade of the scene (scaena).”

Theatre, Herculaneum, July 2009. Tunnel with
electricity, and daylight at its end!

Photo courtesy of Sera Baker.

Ethel Ross Barker, wrote in 1908 –

“We enter the Royal Excavations at Portici,
traverse some long modern corridors and finally passing out of the brilliant
sunshine, we descend a hundred modern steps into an atmosphere growing even
colder and damper. Our only light is from an ancient shaft overhead to the
right.

At the foot of the steps we find ourselves in a
low, narrow vaulted passage hewn out of the lava.

It describes about a quarter of a circle. Fragments
of white marble, stained green with damp, cling to the naked walls, and here
and there the eye dimly discerns, in the fitful glare of the torchlight, a line
of a frieze, a delicate piece of cornice, or the acanthus leaves of a
Corinthian pilaster.

This vaulted passage is the upper corridor of the
Theatre, above the media cavea.

We then descend some ancient steps, which we find
to be one of the seven flights dividing up the cavea, and on the right of the
steps we see portions of the tiers of seats where the spectators sat, all of
dull, yellowish-brown volcanic tufa, and the whole seems hewn out of the living
rock. When we reach the bottom of the stairs we see fragments of the thick
slabs of giallo antico still in position on the floor of the orchestra, as they
were laid down twenty centuries ago. The swift feet of the dancers pass no more
over its polished surface, but the marbles are still there, triumphant in their
ancient beauty over time and earthquake and the rapacity of man. To the right
of the orchestra, supported on a vault, a small portion of the tribunal can be
seen, projecting out of the massy lava. The whole of the pulpitum,
still covered with a few fragments of marble, and the two flights of four
steps, for ascending from the orchestra to the stage, are complete. The entire
length of the very large stage can be seen. All the niches and the arches of
the proscenium exist but are robbed of their marbles.

Behind the stage is the dressing room for the
actors, with a smaller room, apparently for the same purpose, and on the left
of the stage is a fine arched doorway for the entrance. The pilasters still
retain a portion of their stucco covering, painted red, and on the walls of the
dressing room are fragments of colouring to imitate marble. On the right
of the stage is the pedestal, with an inscription, that bore the fine statue of
the elder Balbus robed in the toga, which is now in Naples Museum. On the left
of the stage is a similar inscribed pedestal for an equestrian statue to Appius
Pulcher. The statue no longer exists.

A
very small portion of the lower part of the outside of the Theatre can be seen,
with its tufa and brick walls still adorned with fragments of pilasters, coated
in red stucco. In the portion adjoining the left of the stage there is a door
for the entrance of the public.”

In
1711 workers digging a well in the small town of Resina, Italy, found three
mostly intact life-size marble statues of draped women.

Heralding
the discovery of ancient Herculaneum, the sculptures are known today as the
Large and Small Herculaneum Women.

When
they were discovered, the Herculaneum Women were hoisted through a well shaft
that led down to the remains of a Roman theatre buried 75 feet below the street
level of modern Ercolano.

They
probably once decorated the stage's impressive double-tiered façade, along with
other sculptures of mythological and historical figures.

In
Roman cities, theatres were a common place for the display of honorific statues
of patrons and benefactors of the community.

The
Herculaneum Women may thus have represented members of the local elite.

The
Herculaneum Women were the first significant finds at ancient Herculaneum, and
they are among the best preserved of all the sculptures found there.
The Herculaneum Women are Roman versions of sculptural types deriving from
Greek art.

They
have idealized facial features, wear elegant, enveloping drapery, and share the
same distinctive hairstyle, the so-called melon coiffure, which became
fashionable in Greece after 350 B.C., when the models for the Herculaneum Women
were created.

The Large Herculaneum Woman represents a matron and has part of her mantle
pulled up over her head, signifying piety.

The
Small Herculaneum Woman depicts a younger woman pulling the end of her mantle
up over her shoulder in a gesture of modesty.

The
third Herculaneum Woman was missing its head when it was found.

Her
portrait head, probably with individual features, was carved separately for
insertion into the neck cavity.

These
body types were widely used for portraits of Roman women, but the two types
have rarely been found together.

According
to Vorster, the stylistic analysis of the Dresden statues and their
consideration in the context of the other sculptural finds from the same site
lead rather to the conclusion that the three statues must have come to the
Herculaneum Theatre at different times. The statue of the small Herculaneum
Woman, Hm 327, may be considered not just one of the oldest sculptures of the
Herculaneum Theatre but also one of the earliest examples of a female honorific
statue erected in a public place in Italy.

Prince
d'Elboeuf, whose workmen discovered the Herculaneum Women, presented the
sculptures as a gift to Prince Eugene of Savoy in Vienna.

The
earliest illustrations of the Herculaneum Women, shown here, depict them among
the exotic animals Eugene kept at his Belvedere Gardens.
After Eugene's death in 1736 Augustus III, elector of Saxony and King of
Poland, purchased the statues to complement the royal antiquities collection in
Dresden.

Housed
in the Albertinum since the end of the 19th century, the Herculaneum Women are
centrepieces of the Dresden antiquities collection.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page)
and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

According
to the information board in the Palazzo Reale at Portici in 2015, the statue
was found in 1746 and was in pieces and headless.

The
sculpture was believed to depict Balbus the Younger’s father.

Hence,
during restoration, Canart made a head for it after a portrait certainly
showing Balbus senior, in compliance with the principles of Classicism, which
called for full restoration of mutilated sculptures.

Actually,
the two statues are believed to portray the same individual, being honoured
respectively by the towns of Nuceria and Herculaneum.

Herculaneum.
1782. Two statues of Nonius Balbus, now in Naples Museum.

According to the information board
in Palazzo Reale in 2015, this was inspired by the most famous equestrian
statue of antiquity, the Marcus Aurelius in Piazza del Campidoglio
in Rome, a purely graphical restoration giving a different interpretation from that
of Canart.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page)
and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J78f0441

According
to Wallace-Hadrill, this statue is often thought of as being from the so-called
Basilica but in fact was from outside the theatre.

According
to the information board in the Palazzo Reale at Portici in 2015, the two
statues are believed to portray the same individual, being honoured
respectively, by the towns of Nuceria and Herculaneum.

Herculaneum
Theatre. 1968. Statue of the elder Nonius Balbus, now in the Naples Museum.

Photo
by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page)
and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page)
and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J78f0437

According
to Kraus, “The head of Balbus [the younger] is
a modern copy made by the sculptor Angelo Brunelli (1740-1806) after the
original was destroyed in 1799 by a cannonball fired by the revolutionaries
attacking the royal villa and museum in Portici.”

See Kraus T. and von Matt L., 1975. Pompeii and Herculaneum: Living cities of the dead. New
York: Abrams, (p.125).

According
to Wallace-Hadrill, Marcus Nonius Balbus was one of the leading citizens and
benefactors of Herculaneum.

He
became a praetor in Rome, and the governor (proconsul) of Crete and Cyrene.

In
the Basilica Noniana, his portrait in the toga of a citizen, is accompanied by
that of his father, with the same name, his mother Viciria, probably his wife
Volasennia, and possibly his daughters.

The
impression of his face was left in the tufa at the Theatre, from his statue in
heroic nudity.

We
see statues of him together with his father, both on horseback from a public
square outside the Theatre, with an inscription recalling his benefactions to
the town.

Finally,
his statue can be found on the terrace by the Suburban Baths, in the armour of
a Roman commander.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page)
and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J68f1413

According
to Wallace-Hadrill, this statue is often thought of as being from the so-called
Basilica but in fact was from outside the theatre.

Herculaneum,
1975. Perhaps one of the daughters of Nonius Balbus, found in the Basilica.

Photo
by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page)
and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J75f0573

Now
in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 6248.

Herculaneum,
1976. Perhaps one of the daughters of Nonius Balbus, found in the Basilica.

Now
in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 6244.

Old
photo titled “From the statue found in the theatre of Herculaneum. Now in the
Museo Nazionale Naples. The Sister of M. Nonius Balbus”,

Herculaneum
Theatre. Statue of Marcus Calatorius Quarto.

Now
in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 5597.

Herculaneum
Theatre. May 2010. Statue of M. Calatorius Quarto.

Now
in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 5597.

Photo
courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

An
inscription honouring Calatorius Quarto is recorded in CIL X 1447.

M(arco) Calatorio M(arci) [f(ilio)]

Quartion[i]

municipes et in[colae]

aere conlato[CIL X 1447]

According
to Cooley and Cooley, this translates as

To
Marcus Calatorius Quarto, son of Marcus. The townsfolk and residents (set this
up) by public subscription.

Herculaneum
Theatre. Found in May 1739. Copy in the Palazzo Reale of the reconstructed
horse from a quadriga.

Now
in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 4904.

According to the information board in the
Palazzo Reale in 2015, the reconstructed horse is in fact a pastiche, a skilful
assembly of fragments of four bronze horses which originally drew a carriage
driven by an army leader.

The remains of this very important monument –
parts of horses, their reins, and the carriage with its ornaments -, which
probably graced the western arch granting access to the “Basilica”
in Herculaneum, were found at different times from May 1739 onwards.

Unfortunately, they were brought to Naples
where for many years they were left in a courtyard in the royal palace at the
mercy of the weather, vandalism and thieves.

Finally, the decision was taken to smelt part
of them to make two large bas-reliefs with busts of the king and queen.

Only many years later did Camillo Paderno make
the proposal to use what remained to put together the so called Mazzocchi
horse, named after the erudite author of the inscription on the high plinth the
work stood on in the courtyard of the Museo Ercolanese.

Herculaneum
Theatre. Found in May 1739 in the excavations at Resina. 1771 etching of the so
called Mazzocchi horse, with part of its plinth.

He
is commemorated in a large inscription, 4.15m wide, one of several inscriptions
commemorating the funding for the theatre by the local magistrate and (in
smaller lettering) the contribution of the architect to its design.

Statue
of a Magistrate. Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 6234.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page)
and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
License v.4. See Licence
and use details.